James Lick High School Cross Country and Track Teams/ East Side Running Club

College

When Charli Chircop hurled the discus 100-10 at CCS Finals, she signaled the end of not only her career, but of the 2018 track season (as far as James Lick is concerned). The 2018 season ending was very significant for me personally. It signified the end of my 5th year coaching, and also the end of my first year as a teacher. This blog will be a reflection on my first 5 years as a coach, and the growth of the cross country and track programs over the past 5 seasons.

The team has improved a lot over the past 5 seasons, that is especially demonstrated in track. If this years team faced the team of 2014 in a dual meet, assuming everyone matched their seasons bests, this would be the result:

Boys 2018: 116 Girls 2018: 102

Boys 2014: 19 Girls 2014: 25

I began coaching in fall of 2013. Alex Ponik, one of my coaches at James Lick, was stepping down as head coach. He offered me a position as an assistant coach, a job I was happy to accept. The day before school began for James Lick however, I was informed that our intended head coach would be unable to coach after all. As a result, I was forced to take the helm along with John Quasarano at the last moment.

That first year was tough. As a 20-year old, I lacked confidence in my own authority as a coach. Our top runner and team captain was Armando Aguilar. Armando and I were teammates just a few years before when I myself was team captain. We were also a very inexperienced team on the boys side. 5 of our 7 varsity boys had never run cross country before 2013. Only Armando had been a member of the varsity team before. This combined with our placement in the ‘B’ division, saw us finish with a 1-6 record on the varsity boys side. Honestly, we were lucky to even win 1 meet.

The huge bright side of that season was the varsity girls team. We pulled off a 4-3 season, the first winning season for the Lady Comet since 2009. Of the 24 BVAL teams, we finished in 15th place on the girls side at BVAL Finals. Our Combined team time was 117:28 (or 1:57:28). It was the first time the team had run under 2 hours at Crystal Springs in several years, giving us good hope for the future.

The boys however finished 20th. Our team was 97:09 (1:37:09). This was partly due to the fact that Armando was unable to finish the race, but in any case, a 20th place finish was not where we wanted to be. Seeing our BVAL places, and our inexperienced coaching staff, the BVAL moved us down to the ‘C’ division for the 2014 season.

That was my lowest moment as a coach so far, largely because I believed that we did not belong in the ‘C’ division. We were a young coaching staff and a young team, but I was very confident we could turn things around.

Track was a different season. I joined the track coaching staff along with Ricardo Flores, Juan Trejo and Ray Iniguez. At the time, James Lick track had not won a single dual meet in over 5 years. The Comets had not had a winning season since 2000, and the girls had not had one on record in school history (definitely not since 1996 when the BVAL began keeping records).

The setup that first year saw me in charge of the girls track team, while the other 3 coaches handled the boys team. We managed to eek out our first wins in years, which gave us cause to dream bigger for the future.

On a personal level, 2014 was my most important year as a coach. My goal has always been to help my athletes improve by as much as possible, and hope that wins and success will follow from great improvement. 2014 was when I first gained confidence in my ability to foster improvement in my athletes, thanks to the hard work of a few key athletes.

Daniela Camacho had run 5:49 for the 1600 as a freshmen, though she slowed down to 6:02 as a sophomore, (not an uncommon phenomenon among girl distance runners). That year as a junior, we managed to reverse that trend and Daniela ended the season at 5:43 for the 1600. She lowered her PR to 5:27 the next season, a mark which currently stands as our school record (though Arlet Miranda ran 5:31 this season so here’s hoping she will beat it next year).

Destiny Lopez was maybe the most important athlete towards helping me believe in my own training methods. Destiny had run track since freshmen year, and her PRs were 6:51 in the 1600 and 15:47 in the 3200. 2014 was her senior year, my only year coaching her. It was a trough process, but at division finals, she ran massive PRs, 6:31 for the 1600 and 14:11 for the 3200.

Our track team had 23 athletes in 2014 and we had our first wins in years. Most important to me personally, I felt that just like the James Lick teams of old, we could work hard and improve substantially in pursuit of bigger victories. Our goal for XC 2014 was simple, prove that it was a mistake to send us down to the ‘C’ division.

Our girls thrived in that goal. The team went 7-0 and won the division handily. At BVAL Finals, after placing 15th in 1:57:28 the year before, we finished in 8th place in 1:50:00. The 1:50:00 mark is the 2nd best team time in school history. The team of 1981 is the only team to have run faster, incidentally the only other girls championship team in school history. The boys team improved significantly as well, moving up from 20th place to 15th place, and running 6 minutes faster as a team.

The 2014 team will always be special to me because it was my first division championship as a coach. The more rapid improvement was in track and field. In 2015, we had our first winning season in over a decade. By 2016, a girls division title. In 2017 a 2nd girls title, followed by our move up the ‘B’ division. The success in track and field is in no small part thanks to the excellent coaches I’ve had the chance to work with. From Coach Vela who was by my side in track from the beginning, to coach Nichols, and Turner, and recently coach Raul Lopez. Every coach we’ve had in track has played a pivotal role in improving the team.

The most impressive team of my coaching career however was the 2016 XC team, my only boys title to date, and my only ‘B’ division championship team so far.

That team showed what the culmination of years of hard work could lead to. Team captain Nathan Bernardo did an exceptional job leading that team. Truth to be told, I had to miss many practices throughout the season but Nathan never let the team waver. He lead practice when I could not. All of the teams hard work paid off with the boys going 7-0 and placing 2nd at BVAL finals, only losing to the ‘A’ division champions Willow Glen.

Our team time of 1:25:19 was a respectable mark for James Lick in any era. While it is nowhere near the school record of 1:20:46, it was the 12th best team time in school history, and the best ever JL time at BVAL Finals.

After 5 years, I feel pretty good about where the program is at. We are solidly in the ‘B’ division in both cross country and track, and we have a very young team on both sides. Long term, coach Raul Lopez and myself will be looking to help take the program to the next level, eventually being a member of the ‘A’ division.

I’m proud that we’ve been able to outperform many schools that are larger than us, and better funded. We are currently the 2nd smallest school in the BVAL with a tick over 1100 students. The schools that are still consistently better than us have a few things in common. Some are outside of our control, such as larger enrollment and greater funds to draw from.

The most difficult discrepancy to overcome for us in my opinion is the lack of experience many of our athletes have. Our primary feeder schools are Joseph George and Shepard Middle School . Neither school had a track team this year. They often do not have cross country and when they do, it is not a substantial program. Willow Glen is consistently the best cross country team in the BVAL. This is in large part due to the amazing work of Coach Victor Santamaria, but every year, Willow Glen Middle School churns out multiple boys in the low 5 minute range in the 1600 and sometimes even some sub 5 minute boys.

The same is true of many of the schools we struggle to beat. Many of the top athletes in the area have been training for a long time. Our athletes have a lot of catching up to do. Azael Zamora just graduated with HS personal bests of 4:33 in the 1600 and 9:55 in the 3200. He did not join cross country until his sophomore year, and to that point he had never broken 6 minutes for the mile.

Long term, we are aiming to help ensure that some of our alumni will take on coaching positions at some our local middle schools to help athletics not just at James Lick, but throughout the east side as a whole.

I also hope to have more alumni join my coaching staff. Coach turnover has been an issue for us, and having a more consistent solidified coaching staff will help us improve.

We are not at the same level of James Lick’s greatest teams, but restoring the greatness of James Lick in XC and track has been my goal since I started coaching. We are not nearly there, but we are a lot closer than we were 5 years ago. I want to thank every Comet that has been apart of it, and everyone who actually reads my rambling with interest/support.

Best marks/times under me can all be found under the history section of the blog ^

Some of the Comets prepare for the meet while others pose for a picture

The Comets competed at BVAl Finals at Westmont High School on Thursday May 10th. The BVAL Finals is the BVALs CCS qualifying meet. The top 7 athletes of the MH (A’) division, top 5 from the ST (‘B’) division and top 4 from the WV (‘C’) division meet to compete for spots at CCS Trials. Athletes who achieve the BVAL Automatic qualifying mark also advance from division finals, but for the most part, 16 athletes compete in each event. The top 8 athletes at BVAL Finals advance to CCS Trials.

The very first event contested was the varsity boys pole vault. Mark Orpia and Rodolf Ocampo placed 12th and 13th, not bad for their first year Pole Vaulting. Mark managed a PR of 9-0, while Rodolf matched his PR of 8-6. This was a good end to the season for the Comet pole vaulters, the first in several decades for James Lick.

Several other field events kicked off soon after. Alejandra Ceron booked her ticket to CCS trials for the 2nd year in row in the girls Shot Put. Her throw of 33-2.5 took 7th place in a very competitive field. Valeria Cortez just missed out on making CCS in the event, taking 10th in 32-5.5. Charli Chircop threw 30-11.5 for the final Shot Put competition of her career.

Lyndel Ventura competed in girls long jump for the final time. Her best jump was 15-7.5, the 2nd best jump of her career, a solid final competition for Lyndel. In the girls triple jump, Natalie Rem placed 9th with the 2nd best jump of her career, 33-0.5. A post meet scratch moved Natlie into the 8th place spot, meaning that she will compete at CCS trials as a freshmen, the first Comet to do so since Valeria in discus as a freshmen.

In the boys Shot Put, Josh Garcia ended his career with a toss of 40-6.5. The Girls discus was the best event for the Comets on the day. Charli threw 116-3.5 the 2nd best throw of her career for 2nd place overall, the highest placing at BVAL Finals by any Comet this decade. Valeria took 3rd with a throw of 109-1. Alejandra threw 100-3 for 9th place.

In the girls 4×100, the Comets ran their 2nd best time of the season, clocking 54.04 despite a very poor final handoff. Valeria, Kirsten Yutuc, Yeimili Adame and Natalie Rem accomplished the mark. On the boys side, the team improced upon their “best mark of the decade” status. Cody Huoch, Jose Limon, Geovanny Campos and Raven Alcantara combined to run 45.50. The team placed 11th, and with 3/4ths of the team returning, the Comets have their minds set on trying to make CCS next year.

The one running events with two athletes competing was the girls 100 hurdles. Valeria ran 17.22 and Yesenia Martinez ran 18.53. It was the 2nd best time of the season for both ladies. Valeria narrowly missed making CCS, placing 9th, only .05 off of 7th place.

Kirsten competed in the 300 hurdles, running the 2nd best time of her career, 52.30. Cody became the Comets 5th CCS qualifier on the day, running 42.62, a small PR in the boys version of the event. Azael Zamora competed for the Comets in the 3200. Like many other Comets, he ran the 2nd best time of his career, 9:59.49, he missed out on making CCS by less than 1 second.

The final event on the day was the 4×400. The girls team of Yesenia, Kirsten, Yeimili and Arlet competed hard, but did not run particularly fast. The boys team managed to break the 3:40 barrier for the first time in over a decade. Salvador Lopez, Erik Olsvold, Cody Huoch and Misael Herrera combined to run 3:39.

5 Athletes are left competing for the Comets.

Charli and Valeria in Girls Discus, Alejandra in Girls Shot Put, Natalie in Girls Triple Jump, and Cody in the boys 300 hurdles. These 5 will compete at CCS Trials on Saturday May 19th at Gilroy High School.

The Ryan/Oyama Awards will be held on Tuesday May 15th in the school gym. A number of XC/Track athletes should be honored. Also, brand new banners representing James Lick’s most recent championships will be unveiled. (This includes boys cross country 2016, and girls track 2016 and 2017.)

The Comets three top lady hurdlers from 2017. Left to right: Susie peterson, Valeria Cortez, Kirsten Yutuc. All 3 are returning.

For the first time in the BVAL’S more than 20 seasons of history, the James Lick Track team will be not be competing in the ‘C’ division this year. Most of the 2000s have been a struggle for James Lick sports in general, with track being no exception. The team has been in the WVAL (‘C’ division) ever since the 3 division format was created in 1996.

The combined 35-7 record over the past 3 seasons (20-2 on the girls side) have propelled the team into the STAL division for the first time. This means the 2018 season will be an exciting season of facing new teams, tougher competition, and even an event the team hasn’t contested in decades, (pole vault).

Coaching Staff Shakeup

The season will not be without extra challenges. Unfortunately, both Coach Steve Nichols and coach Jon Vela will be unable to return to our coaching staff this season. Both coaches were extremely important towards developing the team over the past few seasons. Coach Christopher Turner did a tremendous job coaching the horizontal jumps for us in 2017, and he will now take over sprint coaching duties. As a head coach at Yuma HS in Arizona, coach Turner sent multiple athletes to the State meet, and he himself was an outstanding 400m runner in HS and college. Our sprinters will not miss a beat with him at the helm.

While coach Turner can take over coach Nichol’s sprint coach duties, the loss of coach Vela is a huge one. The school Shot Put record, and the school Discus record on the girls side both fell in Coach Vela’s 4 year tenure. In fact, the top 3 discus throwers in school history on the girls side, are still active at James Lick. Girl’s throws figure to be our strongest area again this season. Coach Raul Lopez will take on the bulk of the throws coaching duties this season. Raul threw Shot Put an discus for James Lick in 2011, and proved himself to be an extremely hard working and dedicated coach in cross country. He will strive to keep the success of our throwers going with the same vigor. Raul will also be the primary pole vault coach for the team, and be the assistant distance coach.

I will continue to fulfill Head coaching duties, as well as being the primary distance coach, hurdles coach and high jump coach. I will be aiding Raul in coaching pole vault and throws as well. Coach Ruth Perez hopes to be back as a volunteer to occasionally help with hurdles as well.

Returning Athletes and the ‘B’ division

While the coaching staff has been shaken up, we have a very strong group of returning athletes ready to take on the ‘B’ division teams. The 7 other teams in the division are as follows:

Evergreen: 13-1 in 2017 (Girls division champs)

Pioneer: 12-2 in 2017 (Boys division champs)

Lincoln: 11-3 in 2017

Prospect: 6-8 in 2017

Sobrato: 4-10 in 2017

Oak Grove: 4-10 in 2017

Piedmont Hills: 3-11 in 2017

We moved up in place of 3-11 Andrew Hill. With this all new challenge, our team goal in terms of dual meets is to go a combined 5-9 or better. While this record wouldn’t blow anyone away, it would prove that we belong in the STAL division.

The team will look to be lead by the efforts of some of its top returning athletes, such as:

Azael Zamora: Azael is ranked 4th among all STAL boys in both the 1600 and 3200 and he is coming off of a tremendous XC season. He will aim to place top 5 at STAL division finals and earn a 3rd consecutive trip to BVAL Championships.

Jose Limon: Lemon had a tremendous freshmen track season and then lost his Sophomore season to injury. Now after a healthy XC season, we have big goals for him in the sprint events. Despite not running the 400 at all last year, his PR puts him ranked 10th in the STAL.

Cody Huoch: Cody joined track last season as a junior but is now one of the team’s biggest stars. He is ranked 3rd in both hurdle events among STAL athletes, and he is also ranked 6th in the triple jump.

Valeria Cortez: The team’s best all around athlete. Valeria was a CCS qualafier in the Discus, shot put, and 100 hurdles as only a sophomore. She goes into the STAL division ranked 2nd in Discus (to teammate Charli Chircop) 2nd in Shot Put (to teammate Alejandra Ceron) 5th in the 300 hurdles, and 1st in the 100 hurdles. She was the 100 hurdles division champ for the WVAL in 2017, and she will already be aiming to be the STAL champ in 2018.

Charli Chircop and Alejandra Ceron: Our two senior girl throwers were among our most accomplished athletes. Charli achieved a school record in the discus last season, and became the first Comet to make CCS finals in years. Aleajndra set the school record in the Shot Put last year and was the first Comet in years to medal at the CCS top 8 meet. These girls are ranked 1st in their respective top events, and will be a huge source of strength for the team this year.

Arlet Miranda: Despite battling injuries over the past few seasons, Arlet heads into the STAL ranked in the top 4 in all 3 distance events. She is aiming for a bounce back season that could see more BVAL qualifications and even school records being set. Last year she qualified for CCS trials in the 800 for the first time in her career. She’ll look to make a second trip this year.

The team has a number of other top returning athletes and promising newcomers all dedicated to the goal of proving the Comets belong in the STAL.

Official track practice begins on Monday January 29th.

Our first meet is a little over a month away. Track season is here at last!

James Lick Alumni Left to right: Daisy Nava (Class of 2017) Hector Ramirez (Class of 2016) and Daniela Camacho (2015) at the San Francisco State Invitational in Golden Gate Park

As a school, one of James Lick’s primary goals is to increase the number of Comets who graduate from James Lick and attend college. I’m proud of the fact that every senior member of the cross country/track team in the 4 years I’ve been coaching has either gone on to college or taken a career pat immediately. This past year for example, 3 different Comets graduated and joined the military.

One of the greatest sources of pride for our program however, is seeing XC/track athletes graduate from Lick, and then move on to compete as runners in college. We allow anyone who wants to join the team to join, and we do not make cuts. It goes without saying that this policy is not present in college programs. Only the top cut of HS runners will compete in college at any level, and a far smaller percentage will do so at a university.

This is the first year since I’ve been coaching that we have James Lick alumni actively competing in cross country at the university level. Two years ago, Daniela Camacho and Karan Singh both joined the De Anza team, and were key members of the squad with both sides making the community college State championships. Karan was my first runner to go run the mile under 5 minutes, ending senior year with a solid time of 4:39. Daniela I’ve discussed in blog posts at length. She still holds school records in all 3 distance events,running a 5:27 1600 in her heyday and was a 3 time CCS qualafier in cross country.

Daniela helped De Anza win the 2016 Coast Conference championship in track and field. Last year she was joined on the track team by Andrea Ortiz. Andrea set the James Lick school record in the 300 hurdles, running 50.19. Andrea and Daniela both scored points to help De Anza win the 2017 coast conference track title as well.

Hector Ramirez is currently training with San Francisco State University though he is not racing yet. Hector was a quality member of the James Lick team, captaining the 6-1 2016 team. His most impressive PR in High School was his 17:36 5k at the Stanford Invitational.

Finally, we have Daisy Nava from our most recent graduating class. Daisy was more successful in track than in cross country. She was a BVAL qualifier in the 800m and a key member of the cross country squad for her 2 years in the sport. She is now running for UC Merced.

She had her first ever college meet in Golden Gate Park and got off to a great start by running 7:46 pace for 6k. This matches her best HS pace ever for a longer distance than she;s ever raced. Daniela was in the same race. After her two years at De Anza, Daniela transferred to Notre Dame De Namur and is a member of their scoring team.

These Comet alumni were great members of the team for us, and they continue to make us proud in college.

The Comet team of 2017 will run the Watermelon Run/ Alumni Race on Friday September 9th in preparation for STAL 3 at Montgomery Hill on October 4th.

The 2nd week of school just ended for James Lick, and the XC team is rapidly growing in strength. The summer training period saw a small but dedicated group of around 12 runners practicing regularly. On Friday 8/18 however, we had over 40 athletes at practice, and nearly 20 freshmen alone, always an encouraging sign.

We always start the year with a pair of time trials in the first 2 weeks, a timed mile (mainly to give the newcomers a starting point that is easy to understand) and a timed run over the North Rim trail. The version of north rim that we use for time trials is longer and harder than our league race version. At 3.03 miles, the difficult course takes longer to complete than any course the team will race on this year. This makes it an excellent time trial in my opinion.

Nobody looks stronger than co-team captain Azael Zamora. Azael had a tremendous base period in summer training and is looking to have a huge senior year if he can continue to carry and build on his current form. Azael ran a PR of 17:54 for the course. He is only the 2nd athlete to run under 18 minutes on the course in our 8 years of using it, and he is the first to do it at the beginning of the season time trial. Inteus Castro-Lopez was the 2nd runner in at 20:17, a solid time considering the last minute nature of this years trial.

On the varsity boys side, the 4th and 5th runners have been the need since we began summer training. A few young runners look ready to step up. Sophomore Mark Orpia was the next boy in at 22:06, a 30 second PR from his end of season time last year. Fellow sophomore Hugo Marquez came across in 22:15 for a 2 minute PR as well, 7 minutes better than his beginning of the year time trial as a freshmen. Sandwiched between them was junior Jose Limon in 22:10. Jose was our top sprinter in track, taking 2nd place in the frosh/soph division of the willow glen invitational in the 200m, before losing his season to a hamstring injury. He joined XC thus year to work on his strength and build towards a healthy season, and has moved himself into varsity contention.

Arlet Miranda was the 1st girl across in 23:06, the best beginning of the year time by any girl since we’ve used the course. Arlet is highly motivated after an injury plagued track season that nonetheless saw her make CCS for the first time.

Daniel Portillo came across the line in 23:12 a massive 4 minute PR for the hard working sophomore. Melvin Estrada took 40 seconds off his own PR running 23:19. Jesus Deloya ran a solid time of 25:17 despite missing all of summer training. Nien Tran would fight through cramps to run 25:56, more than a minute better than his time from a year ago. Kevin Bach came in faster than last year as well running 26:33 with Jared Resendiz right behind him in 26:34. Omar Fimbres was the lone freshmen boy to run the course, but opened up his JLXC career with a very promising time of 27:04. This is a faster starting time than Hugo, Melvin or Daniel.

Adrian DeLaRosa ran 28:26, following a similar path to Lemon, (Jose Limon’s preferred moniker) working on his strength with his first season of XC after 2 years of track. The 2nd girl to come in was Belen Sanchez in 33:41. It was Belen’s first practice after missing all of summer, and it will take time for her to return to the great shape she was in during track. Freshmen Jahna Kikhia ran a strong debut time of 34:07 and may factor into teh varsity conversation as well. Ashley Preciado was next, leaps and bounds ahead of where she was last year with a 4 minute PR of 34:12.

Kirsten Yutuc and Justine Austria, a pair of sprinters in track ran 37:07 and 37:12 for their first official XC practice as well. Aliana Santos and Susie Peterson both came across the line soon afterward. Erika Camacho was next in 37:40 for her first timed run. Elizabeth Perez narrowly edged out her sister Mariana, 38:04 to 38:08. A few more freshmen spilled across the line next, Emely Lopez in 39:05, Maya Hammond in 41:04 and Estefani Herrera in 44:06. On the boys side Gabriel Garcia and John Pham both finished in the 42 minute range with John Ramirez rounding out the group in 52 minutes. The girls side was done after Xoe Balgos and Siyun Zuo finished in 52:42.

Our initial mile time trial was done on the 2nd day of school, but we did a 2nd one yesterday with many new runners joining. Azael looked very strong in the time trial running 4:56 without any track specific work. Erik Olsvold also ran a decent 5:21 as he works himself into shape. Many of the freshmen showed strong base fitness with their times. Omar ran 6:55 for his first ever timed mile as a HS runner.

Freshmen Jonathan Bradley ran a strong starting time of 7:16 for his first ever day of practice. Brandon Cruz and Jose Ruiz also had very solid debut times of 7:40 and 7:47.

On the girls side the most impressive debut time was by freshmen Xochitl Godinez. Xochitl (pronounced So- Chi) ran 7:31, a time which indicates varsity potential in the short term. Xochitl is the younger sister of Ivan Godinez, a runner who was a rival of many recent Comet athletes as the top distance runner for Yerba Buena High School and Independence High School as a senior.

Many of the freshmen girls ran mile times in the 9-10 minute range. The boys team is full of depth with a large group of dedicated FS runners and at long last the girls team is poised for the same breakout. If our large group of freshmen runners stay dedicated, from Omar, to Xochitl, to Jonathan to Emely, this team will set the Comets up for success for years to come.

The Alumni Race will take place on Friday September 1st in Alum Rock Park. The Race will begin at 6:00 P.M. Any alumni of the school are welcomed to attend and my thanks to anyone who spreads the word.

The teams first official meet will be on September 7th in Alum Rock Park. We’re just a few weeks away now, stay strong Comets.

I will try to post a season preview within the next week or so, as a first year full time teacher however I am still learning to balance things.